Homemade Aged Pizza dough is an amazingly easy thing to make at home and it freezes so well. It tastes so much better than just made pizza dough and all you have to do is let it sit.

About aged pizza dough

If you are not familiar with aged pizza dough or aged dough for that matter, it is a process of simply allowing your dough to sit for anywhere from 24 hours to 72 hours in the refrigerator.

That is it! Just let that dough sit and age and it will taste amazing.

This process helps the pizza dough to develop a beautiful flavor. Maybe you once thought that your pizza dough was bad because it sat in your refrigerator too long and you threw it out.

I am here to tell you that as long as your dough is wrapped tight to keep it from drying out, letting that dough sit for a while only makes it taste better.

There are no special ingredients for this aged pizza dough. All the ingredients for the dough are the same as a regular pizza dough.

The only change from regular pizza dough and aged pizza dough is the aging process. It is really fun to do, especially when you see it growing in the refrigerator (you see that the dough is actually alive)!

pizza dough in a bowl with plastic wrap on top. — Pizza Dough before it gets wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.

The ingredients

All-purpose flour
Water
Yeast
Salt
Olive oil (for the bowl)

I like to make a double batch of this aged pizza dough and freeze it. When I am ready to make pizza, I just take two discs out of the freezer the night before and let it thaw slowly overnight in the refrigerator.

My family is really big on homemade pizza night at home and we grill most of our pizzas outside! One of our favorites is our mushroom pizza.

Making The Dough

The steps are all the same as making regular pizza dough. You will need to activate the yeast in a liquid first then mix that into the other ingredients.

If you are mixing the dough by hand, allow about 5 minutes of mixing to activate the gluten. If you are using a stand mixer with a dough hook, it is much quicker, about 2-3 minutes.

You will need to knead it 🙂 So allow a few minutes for that. Without this step, the gluten will not activate and you will not have the elasticity of a good pizza dough.

How to Store The Pizza Dough

If you are going to make this recipe, you definitely want to make sure to check on it from time to time in the refrigerator since it expands a bit. I have had situations where the dough has tried to make an escape out of the plastic wrap.

When working with dough, there is almost always a living component and here it is yeast. If your yeast is alive then your dough will grow.

To make sure it is sealed tight, I like to place the dough on the center of a large piece of plastic wrap and fold all the sides over it to the middle. I then take the long end of the plastic wrap and twist it together.

Then I wrap it one more time in another piece of plastic wrap and it cannot escape. If your dough does escape just re-wrap it. It will not grow too much but it will grow a bit.

Working With Yeast Tips

For the longest time, yeast recipes totally stumped me and I never had any success with them. My yeast either died or didn't activate with the "warm water" called for in the recipe instructions.

I don't want to have to stick a thermometer in any recipe I make because I just do not have time for that. What I explain below is a technique that can be used for any yeast recipe, including yeasted waffles. Here is what always works for me:

Make sure you are working with yeast that is not really old. It actually lasts a long time in the refrigerator but it can still get old. Anything after a year may be time to purge.
When recipes call for warm water to activate the yeast (this means you are waking it up), warm water to you and me can mean different things. If I stick my finger in the water and it feels really warm, almost hot then it will work. The water needs to feel a little uncomfortable to you when you touch it but not to the point of burning you. Just plain warm tap water won't always wake up your yeast.

Recipe Tips

Here are all the things over the years that I learned to look out for when aging dough.

Make sure air does not come into contact with the dough. This will dry out the dough.
Discard if the dough turns grey. From time to time, and depending on how long you age your pizza dough, the dough can turn a greyish color, usually on just part of the dough. While it is fine to eat this dough, the flavor will not be amazing. You are better off discarding the dough and starting over.

I hope these tips are helpful. Once you get the hang of this, you'll see how easy homemade pizza dough is to make.

Ways To Use Aged Dough

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Aged Pizza Dough

A delicious aged pizza dough that is so easy to make and even easier to make in large batches to fill your freezer.

Prep Time15

Resting time1

Total Time1 15

Servings: dough balls, enough for 2 (10 inch) pizzas

US Customary - Metric

Author: Melissa Oleary

Ingredients

2 ⅓ cups unbleached all-purpose flour or a high gluten flour
¾ cup plus 4 teaspoons water preferably bottled spring water at room temperature
¼ cup warm water for yeast
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
olive oil for the bowl

Instructions

Oil a large bowl and set aside.
olive oil for the bowl
In a medium bowl, stir the yeast into the ¼ cup of warm water and let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
¼ cup warm water, ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
In a medium bowl, add the salt to the flour and mix together.
1 teaspoon kosher salt, 2 ⅓ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Stir the remaining water into the creamy yeast mixture, and then stir in the flour, 1 cup at a time. If mixing by hand, stir with a wooden spoon for 3 to  4 minutes. If mixing with a stand mixer, beat with the paddle at the lowest speed for 2 minutes. If mixing with a food processor, mix just until a sticky dough forms.
¾ cup plus 4 teaspoons water preferably bottled spring water
Transfer the dough to your lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise at cool room temperature for 24 hours, until the dough is triple its original volume but is still wet and sticky. You can do this on the counter, your fridge or in any space that stays a cool room temperature.

If using pizza dough right away

If using right away, divide the dough into two sections by cutting it in half with a knife.
On a well floured surface, knead the dough until it becomes smooth. It will be very sticky so you will need to add flour as needed.
Divide dough into two and shape into 2 dough balls.
Place the dough on to a plate and cover with plastic wrap to rest for 10 minutes
After 10 minutes, roll or stretch your dough to a roughly 10 inch circle.
Add your toppings and bake or grill based on your desired pizza recipe.

If aging the dough.

Once you make the dough, place in the oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap.
Place in the refrigerator for 24-72 hours.
When ready to use, follow the instructions above for "using the pizza dough right away".

Notes

Storing the Dough-

Refrigerating the pizza dough: Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and use within 5 days.

Freezing the pizza dough: Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in freezer. To thaw, place in the refrigerator overnight. When ready to use, let it rest at room temperature for about 3 hours until it is bubbly and active again.)

Nutrition

Nutrition Values are estimates only.

See full nutrition disclaimer here

Tried the Recipe? We Would Love To Hear From You In The Comments Below!

Course :Main Course